UH Manoa Campus Events Calendar

Hoena wale nō! Only paddling!

The University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Library announces the installation an exhibit celebrating Hawai’i Team Sport, paddling. With the long distance paddling season coming to a close, marked by the Na Wahine o ke Kai and Moloka’i Hoe races from Moloka’i, it is an appropriate time to reflect on Hawaii’s amazing paddle sports and watermen and women. As Epeli Hau’ofa wrote in his book, Our Sea of Islands (2008),

“Our ancestors, who have lived in the Pacific for over 2000 years, viewed their world as a 'sea of islands', rather than 'islands in the sea'. ....Oceania' connotes a sea of islands with their inhabitants. The world of our ancestors was a large sea full of places to explore, to make their homes in, to breed generations of seafarers like themselves. People raised in this environment were at home with the sea. They played in it as soon as they could walk steadily, they worked in it, they fought on it. They developed great skills for navigating their waters, and the spirit to traverse even the few large gaps that separated their island groups.”

In Hawai‘i if you grow up ma kahakai (oceanside), he‘e nalu (surfing), ‘au‘au kai (swimming), and hoe wa‘a (paddling), you are as comfortable on the water as you are on the land. The rhythm of the waves and the flow of the tides are second nature. With training in paddling and surfing, island keiki become the best watermen and waterwomen in the world. This exhibit celebrates Hawaii’s paddling traditions and honors those water men and women who perpetuate our unique ocean heritage.

The Hoena Wale Nō exhibit is organized into five sections:

• I ka wa‘a kahiko/Of the ancient canoe

• E lauhoe mai na wa’a/Paddle together

• Na wa‘a noa ~ New paddling traditions

• Na kanaka o ke kai ~ People of the Water

• Ho‘ike hoena ~ Paddling Competitions!

The exhibit is free and open to the public. It can be viewed in Hamilton Library’s Bridge Gallery during business hours through exam week in December 14, 2012. Parking is free on Sundays!

For more information, please contact Teri Skillman at (808) 956-8688 or email skillman@hawaii.edu.